Comparing 2016 Defense to 2014

[KJJ]

Show me the "reports". Because I have doubts that noteworthy media outlets would make such a big mistake as that. It took me about 10 seconds to look up the number of plays the opponents ran against us for 2013, 2014 and 2015 with google and I was able to confirm them. If I recall, you were one of the ones saying that there was a 10+ play difference between the 2014 and 2015 teams as well which got refuted quickly..

This is the best I can find to backup what NFL Network has reported. This ESPN article claims the Cowboys opponents in 2014 averaged 12 fewer offensive plays on the field than in 2013 which means our defense was spending 12 fewer plays on the field than in 2013.

The Cowboys' offense has increased its average time of possession per game by nearly six minutes, from 29:01 to 34:42, according to our friends at ESPN Stats & Information. In turn, Cowboys opponents have been on the field less and have run about 12 fewer plays per game. In reality, opponents are averaging the same number of yards per play -- 6.1 -- against the Cowboys this season as they were in 2013.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/1...rts-analyze-dallas-cowboys-unexpected-success

 

[Sydla]

Pro Football Reference can give you all the information you need. 1094 opponents plays in 2013, 978 opponents plays in 2014. That works out to about 7 plays difference, not 12-13. The article you just linked is after like 5-6 games in the 2015 season. The stats normalized over the remainder of the season.

And again, the 2015 defense wasn't on the field that much more than the 2014 defense.

 

[KJJ]

Pro Football Reference can give you all the information you need. 1094 opponents plays in 2013, 978 opponents plays in 2014. That works out to about 7 plays difference, not 12-13.

And again, the 2015 defense wasn't on the field that much more than the 2014 defense.

I just posted a link did you read it? We're not comparing the 2014 teams defense with the 2015 I'm comparing the 2013 defense with the 2014 defense. Apparently you're not comprehending.

 

[Sydla]

I just posted a link did you read it?

Yeah.

From October of 2015. As I said above, as the season progressed, the stats normalized and by the end of the season, the Cowboys had run only 7 more defensive plays on average than the 2013 team.

 

[KJJ]

Yeah.

From October of 2015. As I said above, as the season progressed, the stats normalized and by the end of the season, the Cowboys had run only 7 more defensive plays on average than the 2013 team.

The 12 fewer plays the defense spent off the field was a comparison between the 2013 defense and the 2014 defense.

 

[KJJ]

If I recall, you were one of the ones saying that there was a 10+ play difference between the 2014 and 2015 teams as well which got refuted quickly.

You're recalling wrong the comparison was between the 2013 defense and the 2014 defense.

 

[percyhoward]

I'm not responsible for what others write. I think what you are missing is that controlling the clock in a win is different than ending up with time on the clock in a loss - even if the numbers add up to the same total at the end of the year.

The critical numbers are 12-4 and 4-12.

Well, yeah. But we didn't go 4-12 because the offense failed to "keep the defense fresh." The offense will need to score a lot more points, and the defense will need to play better. Time of possession has little to do with it. See 2015.

 

[percyhoward]

Besides the defense being on the field too much in 2015 another reason we weren't forcing turnovers was the offense was turning the ball over at a higher rate than we did in 2014. This put the defense back on the field and in some cases having to defend a short field. The offense holding onto the ball makes life a lot easier for the defense.

The 2014 offense was better than 2015 at just about everything except controlling the clock. The two offenses were about the same in TOP. While the defense can blame the offense for not scoring enough points, it can't blame the offense for not giving it enough rest. There were 29 defenses who were given less time to rest by their offense.

 

[KJJ]

The 2014 offense was better than 2015 at just about everything except controlling the clock. The two offenses were about the same in TOP.

According to you we had a better running game in 2015 than in 2014.

 

[percyhoward]

According to you we had a better running game in 2015 than in 2014.

Right, and it didn't mean a whole lot because we couldn't pass. But to your point about TOP, go back and read what you quoted from that article:

The Cowboys' offense has increased its average time of possession per game by nearly six minutes, from 29:01 to 34:42, according to our friends at ESPN Stats & Information.

Think about it. "The Cowboys' offense has increased its time of possession?" This makes no sense. An offense can go 3-and-out on every possession and see its TOP for the game increase if its defense is forcing turnovers and giving it the ball back often enough. That should read "The Cowboys' offense and defense have increased the team's TOP per game." Fully half of the increase in TOP was because the defense was getting off the field faster in 2014.

When people make the mistake of thinking the offense alone is responsible for team TOP, that leads to the mistake of thinking the offense was to blame for the drop in team TOP in 2015, and that one of the major effects of having Elliott will be to "give the defense the kind of rest it got in 2014 and didn't get in 2015." The defense was given the same amount of rest both seasons.

TOP per game tells us nothing about how much of the credit goes to the offense or defense. TOP per drive looks like this:

2014
offense 2nd
defense 7th

2015
offense 3rd
defense 20th

We're not going to be able to get much better at offensive TOP.

 

[waldoputty]

Right, and it didn't mean a whole lot because we couldn't pass. But to your point about TOP, go back and read what you quoted from that article:
The Cowboys' offense has increased its average time of possession per game by nearly six minutes, from 29:01 to 34:42, according to our friends at ESPN Stats & Information.

Think about it. "The Cowboys' offense has increased its time of possession?" This makes no sense. An offense can go 3-and-out on every possession and see its TOP for the game increase if its defense is forcing turnovers and giving it the ball back often enough. That should read "The Cowboys' offense and defense have increased the team's TOP per game." Fully half of the increase in TOP was because the defense was getting off the field faster in 2014.

When people make the mistake of thinking the offense alone is responsible for team TOP, that leads to the mistake of thinking the offense was to blame for the drop in team TOP in 2015, and that one of the major effects of having Elliott will be to "give the defense the kind of rest it got in 2014 and didn't get in 2015." The defense was given the same amount of rest both seasons.

TOP per game tells us nothing about how much of the credit goes to the offense or defense. TOP per drive looks like this:

2014
offense 2nd
defense 7th

2015
offense 3rd
defense 20th

We're not going to be able to get much better at offensive TOP.

I seem to recall a lot of 3-and-out last year.
Do I remember incorrectly?

 

[percyhoward]

I seem to recall a lot of 3-and-out last year.
Do I remember incorrectly?

There were a lot more 3-and-out's in 2015, but there were a lot more quick scores in 2014. That's why the average drives for the two seasons were only :02 apart.

The 2014 offense didn't control the clock any better, it just played a whole lot better.

 

[big dog cowboy]

The 2014 offense didn't control the clock any better, it just played a whole lot better.

That actually makes a ton of sense.

 

[waldoputty]

There were a lot more 3-and-out's in 2015, but there were a lot more quick scores in 2014. That's why the average drives for the two seasons were only :02 apart.

The 2014 offense didn't control the clock any better, it just played a whole lot better.

Really, there were more quick scores in 2014 whereas there were just not many scores in 2015...
So when they were not 3-and-out, they were slowly driving...

If we were running so much in 2014, how were we scoring quickly?
I dont remember Murray having that many long scoring runs?
Did Romo have a lot of long scoring passes because defenses were playing 8 in the box etc?

 

[KJJ]

Right, and it didn't mean a whole lot because we couldn't pass. But to your point about TOP, go back and read what you quoted from that article:
The Cowboys' offense has increased its average time of possession per game by nearly six minutes, from 29:01 to 34:42, according to our friends at ESPN Stats & Information.

Think about it. "The Cowboys' offense has increased its time of possession?" This makes no sense.

Go argue it with ESPN.

 

[percyhoward]

If we were running so much in 2014, how were we scoring quickly?
I dont remember Murray having that many long scoring runs?
Did Romo have a lot of long scoring passes because defenses were playing 8 in the box etc?

Most of our TD were passing TD (37 pass, 16 run).

Romo had the highest TD% (TD per attempt) of his career, by far. There's no question that all the rushing attempts had an effect on this, and on his career-high passer rating. His biggest improvement, however, was on his shorter targets (less than 15 yards) -- not his intermediate-to-deep targets.

 

[percyhoward]

Go argue it with ESPN.

Dear ESPN. There are two ways a team's TOP can go down during a game -- either the offense can't stay on the field, or the defense can't get off it. Neither one has any more of an effect than the other.

 

[KJJ]

Dear ESPN. There are two ways a team's TOP can go down during a game -- either the offense can't stay on the field, or the defense can't get off it. Neither one has any more of an effect than the other.

You tell em!

 

[Jstopper]

You tell em!

Kjj come on now you're better than this. He is presenting factual evidence and you're being ignorant smh

 

[KJJ]

Kjj come on now you're better than this. He is presenting factual evidence and you're being ignorant smh

He claims the running game was better in 2015 than it was in 2014 and you're calling me ignorant? You're just one of Percy's lapdogs. You'll jump as high as he tells you to. lol He and Adam have some of you under their spell.